Dietary restriction has been shown to have several health benefits including increased insulin sensitivity, stress resistance, reduced morbidity, and increased life span. The mechanism remains unknown, but the need for a long-term reduction in caloric intake to achieve these benefits has been assumed. We report that when C57BL/6 mice are maintained on an intermittent fasting (alternate-day fasting) dietary-restriction regimen their overall food intake is not decreased and their body weight is maintained. Nevertheless, intermittent fasting resulted in beneficial effects that met or exceeded those of caloric restriction including reduced serum glucose and insulin levels and increased resistance of neurons in the brain to excitotoxic stress. Intermittent fasting therefore has beneficial effects on glucose regulation and neuronal resistance to injury in these mice that are independent of caloric intake.

Laboratory of Neurosciences, National Institute on Aging Gerontology Research Center, Baltimore, MD 21224

Stressful events may trigger disease processes in many different organ systems, with the cardiovascular system being particularly vulnerable. Five-mo-old male rats had ad libitum (AL) access to food or were deprived of food every other day [intermittent food deprivation (IF)] for 6 mo, during which time their heart rate (HR), blood pressure (BP), physical activity and body temperature were measured by radiotelemetry under nonstress and stress (immobilization or cold-water swim) conditions. IF rats had significantly lower basal HR and BP, and significantly lower increases in HR and BP after exposures to the immobilization and swim stressors. Basal levels of adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) and corticosterone were greater in the IF rats. However, in contrast to large stress-induced increases in ACTH, corticosterone and epinephrine levels in AL rats, increases in these hormones in response to repeated immobilization stress sessions were reduced or absent in IF rats. Nevertheless, the IF rats exhibited robust hypothalamic/pituitary and sympathetic neuroendocrine responses to a different stress (swim). The IF treatment improved glucose metabolism, as indicated by lower basal levels of circulating glucose and insulin, but with maintenance of glucose and insulin responses to stress. We concluded that improvements in cardiovascular risk factors and cardiovascular and neuroendocrine stress adaptation occur in response to IF.

The Bahadori Leanness Program (BLP) is a multi-step strategy for weight control, the most innovative feature of which is "mini-fast with exercise" - every 24h includes a fast of 12-14h duration within which is nested a session of aerobic exercise. Low-fat, low-glycemic-index foods choices help to insure that diurnal levels of glucose and insulin remain relatively low. Clinical experience demonstrates that clients can achieve good compliance with this protocol, and the long term impact on body weight is gratifying. Rodent studies demonstrate that alternate-day feeding is even more effective than caloric restriction for promoting neuroprotection, suggesting that intermittent periods of mild metabolic stress induce protective adaptations in the brain; exercise training is also neuroprotective in these models. Mattson has raised the possibility that regular meal-skipping might be a feasible strategy for achieving similar - though perhaps less potent - protection in humans. Thus, it is suggested that exercise superimposed on regular short-term fasts, as in the BLP, might provide meaningful neuroprotection. Studies assessing CSF levels of brain neurotrophic hormones might be useful for evaluating the impact of such a strategy on brain neurochemistry. It should not be overlooked that leanness, good insulin sensitivity, and regular exercise are likely to be neuroprotective in their own right. The episodic metabolic stress associated with BLP may also have potential for prevention and therapy of cancer, inasmuch as down-regulation of systemic IGF-I activity during the mini-fasts would be expected to boost the rate of apoptosis in IGF-I-responsive neoplastic or pre-neoplastic tissues. Moreover, the relatively low-diurnal insulin levels and exercise training associated with BLP would be expected to down-regulate sympathetic activity while boosting cardiac parasympathetic tone - effects that should decrease risk for hypertension and sudden-death arrhythmias. Thus, it is conceivable that BLP will provide a range of health benefits extending beyond those attributable to its favorable impact on body composition.

The Bahadori Leanness Program (BLP) is a multi-step strategy for weight control, the most innovative feature of which is "mini-fast with exercise" - every 24h includes a fast of 12-14h duration within which is nested a session of aerobic exercise. Low-fat, low-glycemic-index foods choices help to insure that diurnal levels of glucose and insulin remain relatively low. Clinical experience demonstrates that clients can achieve good compliance with this protocol, and the long term impact on body weight is gratifying. Rodent studies demonstrate that alternate-day feeding is even more effective than caloric restriction for promoting neuroprotection, suggesting that intermittent periods of mild metabolic stress induce protective adaptations in the brain; exercise training is also neuroprotective in these models. Mattson has raised the possibility that regular meal-skipping might be a feasible strategy for achieving similar - though perhaps less potent - protection in humans. Thus, it is suggested that exercise superimposed on regular short-term fasts, as in the BLP, might provide meaningful neuroprotection. Studies assessing CSF levels of brain neurotrophic hormones might be useful for evaluating the impact of such a strategy on brain neurochemistry. It should not be overlooked that leanness, good insulin sensitivity, and regular exercise are likely to be neuroprotective in their own right. The episodic metabolic stress associated with BLP may also have potential for prevention and therapy of cancer, inasmuch as down-regulation of systemic IGF-I activity during the mini-fasts would be expected to boost the rate of apoptosis in IGF-I-responsive neoplastic or pre-neoplastic tissues. Moreover, the relatively low-diurnal insulin levels and exercise training associated with BLP would be expected to down-regulate sympathetic activity while boosting cardiac parasympathetic tone - effects that should decrease risk for hypertension and sudden-death arrhythmias. Thus, it is conceivable that BLP will provide a range of health benefits extending beyond those attributable to its favorable impact on body composition.

I should try to interview these folks. Sounds like a good program...with a few tweaks it could be great.

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"Survival will be neither to the strongest of the species, nor to the most intelligent, but to those most adaptable to change."
C. Darwin